[单项选择]

As summer rolls around, lawmakers in Washington are preparing to vote on a jobs bill that would include $1 billion for summer jobs for teens. Much of the urgency for the program stems from the private-sector plunge in summer jobs for teenagers over the past few years. It’s no secret that the recession walloped teens’ jobs as much as it did their parents. But some economists find the clamor for public jobs programs a little ironic, given last year’s midrecession minimum wage increase, which may have reduced teen employment even beyond the recessionary drop.
Before the minimum wage jumped to $ 7.25 an hour last summer, University of California-Irvine economist David Neumark estimated that it would lead to an additional 300 000 job losses for teens and young adults. The 2009 wage increase was set in motion in a better labor market in May 2007, when Congress voted to boost the minimum from $ 5.15 an hour to $ 7.25 an hour over the course of the next two year
A. decreased
B. affected
C. increased
D. hit

[单项选择]As summer rolls around, lawmakers in Washington are preparing to vote on a jobs bill that would include $1 billion for summer jobs for teens. Much of the urgency for the program stems from the private-sector plunge in summer jobs for teenagers over the past few years. It’s no secret that the recession walloped teens’ jobs as much as it did their parents. But some economists find the clamor for public jobs programs a little ironic, given last year’s midrecession minimum wage increase, which may have reduced teen employment even beyond the recessionary drop.
Before the minimum wage jumped to $ 7.25 an hour last summer, University of California-Irvine economist David Neumark estimated that it would lead to an additional 300 000 job losses for teens and young adults. The 2009 wage increase was set in motion in a better labor market in May 2007, when Congress voted to boost the minimum from $ 5.15 an hour to $ 7.25 an hour over the course of the next two years.
It’s hard to pa
A. decreased
B. affected
C. increased
D. hit